Effective Strategies to Integrate Behavioral Health into Primary Care

NEW ARTICLE:  Evolving Models of Behavioral Health Integration in Primary Care

Maine Quality Counts and the Maine Practice Improvement Network teamed up this week to offer a webinar on effective strategies to integrate behavioral health into primary care. Considered a core component of the patient centered model of care, behavioral and physical health integration is being implemented in health care settings across the state...

using dynamic strategies that include assessing current behavioral-physical health integration capacity; implementing a system to routinely conduct a standard assessment for depression (e.g., PHQ-9) in patients with chronic illness; incorporating a behavioralist into the practice to assist with chronic condition management; and co-locating behavioral health services within in the practice.  The speaker was Neil Korsen, MD, MS, who is the Medical Director at MaineHealth's Clinical Integration Division. Korsen is a family physician and geriatrician with 18 years of practice experience in Maine. He serves MaineHealth in a variety of roles, including Medical Director of the Mental Health Integration Program, Senior Director for Program Evaluation for the Center for Quality and Safety, and Principal Investigator for a grant-funded pilot program in Shared Decision Making. He also provides technical assistance to the Maine Patient Centered Medical Home Pilot sites on their strategies to integrate behavioral and physical health care.  The slides from Dr. Korsen's presentation Integrating Mental Health into Advanced Primary Care are available for download, along with a recommended Site Self-Assessment Survey.